GALERIE MICHAEL HAAS

Press release

A. R. Penck and

Eröffnung: Freitag, 23. Februar 2018, 19 – 21 Uhr Ausstellungsdauer: 23.02.-21.04.2018

Galerie Michael Haas is showing 36 museum-quality A. R. Penck paintings and sculptures by A. R. Penck (1939-2017) Der Golfkrieg, 1991 Oil on canvas, 300 x 500 cm spanning three decades.

Before Ralf Winkler, a.k.a. A.R. Penck, goes west, he remains Galerie Michael Haas was founded in Berlin largely unknown to the public. In he is a self-taught in 1976 by Michael Haas. The gallery focuses upon classical , German drummer, filmmaker, painter, graphic artist, musician and and international art after 1945, and writer. He is denied entrance to the academies of the GDR or a contemporary art. For over 35 years, membership in the Association of Visual Artists. His art, which internationally re¬nowned artists have been alternates between abstraction and figuration, does not presented in solo and group exhibitions. Including amongst others; Georg Baselitz, correspond to the aesthetic ideal of socialist . Jean-Michel Basquiat, Günther Brus, But in the West, his paintings are celebrated even before he Giorgio de Chirico, Otto Dix, , moves to the Federal Republic of in 1980. In 1968, Jean Fautier, Hans Hofmann, Ernst-Ludwig Kirchner, Per Kirkeby, A.R.Penck, Arnulf Michael Werner, later his gallerist, organizes a first solo Rainer, Louis Soutter and . exhibition in a gallery; in 1971, Haus Lange in Krefeld is the first museum to present a solo show; in 1972, he takes Art dealing and the support of younger part in the documenta for the first time. His paintings, and the artistic positions present two further focal points. Both in dealing with the works of bronzes created from 1982 on, are finally shown worldwide in established artists (e.g. Chagall, Hodler, galleries and museums. Penck, who was already acquainted Klee, Léger, Nolde, Picasso, Richter, with Georg Baselitz in the GDR, meets , Jörg Vallotton, Warhol) and the presentation of much younger art, the emphasis is upon the Immendorff, Markus Lüpertz and Per Kirkeby in the West, with fields of , , and works on whom he develops friendships. He is one of the most important paper. Representing contemporary art are, painters to promote the renewal of painting in Germany while amongst others; Nicole Bianchet, Marianna Gartner, Leiko Ikemura, Martha Jungwirth constantly staying true to himself as well as his aesthetics that Dirk Lange, Stefan Mannel, Jakob Mattner were already forthcoming in Dresden: clear lines, pictogram- and René Wirths. Galerie Michael Haas like shapes, stick figures on canvases that sometimes take on regularly takes part in international art fairs enormous proportions. Current events, universal themes as such as Art and Art Cologne.. well as personal experiences find their way into his concise and unprecedented pictorial world. In spring 2017, A. R. Penck Galerie Michael Haas died in Zurich at the age of 77. Niebuhrstraße 5 10629 Berlin Galerie Michael Haas is showing numerous important, partially Kunst Lager Haas monumental paintings and bronze sculptures from the 1970s, Lise-Meitner-Straße 7-9 10589 Berlin-Charlottenburg 80s and 90s.

Press enquiries: A catalogue will be published. Janna Oltmanns T +49 (0) 30 88 92 91 0 The opening will take place in the gallery and in the Kunst Lager Haas. F +49 (0) 30 88 92 91 10 [email protected] www.galeriemichaelhaas.de Opening hours: Mon-Fri 9-6, Sat 11-2